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Magazine Article

The recent industry market data shows the photo film volume
declined 14.5% while One-Time-Use camera units increased 12.3% on
the year-to-year as of July 2003.
Since 1997, use of Kodak's consumer Black & White film has
increased dramatically, with a compounded annual growth rate of 37%
over the last three years because of better quality and
convenience. According to Kodak, the growth largely is due to the
ability of B&W photography to accentuate depth and
emotion.

In August 2003, Kodak announced the availability of a new Kodak
Black & White One-Time-Use camera designed to provide consumers
with the ability to make pictures a photographic classic.

The year 2003 will be remembered as a blossoming year for
digital SLR cameras with many new models added in the latter half
of the year, including Olympus' Four-Thirds format E-1, Canon's
consumer-oriented EOS Kiss Digital (Rebel) offered at around
¥140,000 with a standard zoom lens, on top of its popular EOS
10D, and Pentax *ist D. Thus far digital SLRs were mostly for pros,
but advancing electronics technologies bring about compact and
lightweight gears at affordable prices.

In the first seven months of the year, 277,000 units of digital
SLRs were shipped worldwide and some 400,000 units are expected to
be added in the rest of the year, with Canon planning to produce
70,000 units a month of the EOS Kiss Digital alone.

The emergence of D-SLRs contributed to Japan's camera makers
improving their profitability and earnings thanks to the camera's
higher prices compared to their film counterparts. It also will
help camera specialty dealers to sell more D-cams and accessories
if they are armed with a proper knowledge of electronic imaging and
personal computers in addition to their long experience in
photography. This is a superior selling point for specialty dealers
over electronic mass marketers or large-scale hyper stores. You can
sell large prints, or supplies for the inkjet printer if your
customers prefer to make prints at home.

There is another huge market for easy-to-use digital compact
cameras with pixel counts up to 4MP, which calls for tougher
competition with discount stores and electronics shops. This
product category requires less knowledge about imaging but also
requires a huge inventory. And this category will face another
competitor-the camera-fitted cell phone, whose dissemination speed
is incredibly high in Japan.

Digicam and camphone users take more pictures casually, so it is
important to persuade them to make prints at your store or kiosk at
the storefront. And U.S. consumers will soon follow this trend, so
be armed and be prepared.

As the economy continues to improve, the photo/imaging industry is
poised to benefit during the upcoming holiday selling season. Photo
retailers are fortunate to be deeply engaged in one of the hottest
retail trends: digital cameras and accessories. The natural joy of
photography, coupled with the excitement of innovation, makes a
digital camera a winning gift.